A Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) for undersea surveys and for testing new "smart" technologies has been developed by a team in the Irish Republic.

Latis carries state-of-the-art navigation equipment and hosts a novel thruster control system which aids pilot steering, especially during close intervention activities and can compensate for thruster failure.

Latis has four cameras on board, including one capable of operating in low-light conditions.

It also carries high resolution echo-sounders, multibeam and sidescan sonar equipment with patented multi-sonar control.

It is currently equipped with an umbilical allowing it to dive to 400m, but the vehicle is designed to function down to depths of 1,000m plus.